The other supports we fund depends on your goals and individual needs. Like all supports funded through the NDIS, they must meet our NDIS funding criteria.
For example, we can fund things like:
- supports to help you explore options to move to other accommodation, such as functional therapy assessments
- therapy supports related to skill development, capacity building, assistive technology assessment, specification, and training
- capacity building and transition funding to help you build your skills and confidence to move out
- supports to help you get ready to move out of your residential aged care facility
- supports to help you take part in community activities or see friends or family
- therapy and other disability supports that help with things like social activities. This may include allied health supports – for example, speech pathology supports to improve communication
- disability related interpreting or translation services, such as Auslan
- personalised assistive technology or equipment to help you do things or be more independent, such as powered wheelchairs or slings.
We will also fund a support coordinator to help you find and organise your providers. They can help you explore other housing options if you have a goal to move out of the residential aged care facility.
What other supports will the residential aged care facility fund?
As well as providing some costs associated with your accommodation, personal and health care, the residential aged care facility is responsible for funding certain other supports.
The residential aged care facility will:
- fund some therapy supports. For example, supports relating to certain recreation or rehabilitation needs.
- provide percutaneous endoscopic gastronomy and home enteral nutrition supports if you need them. Read more about nutritional supports.
- fund shared assistive technology equipment within their facility, including repairs. Things such as recliner chairs, mobile hoists, and manual wheelchairs.
- complete any modifications or repairs to their facility. For example, repairs to fixed structures, including ceiling hoists.
When you enter a residential aged care facility, Services Australia usually cancels your Continence Aids Payment Scheme (CAPS) allowance. When this happens, the facility will fund your continence aids. We’ll fund these if you still receive the CAPS allowance.
For more information on what a residential aged care facility will provide, refer to the Principles and guidelines for a younger person’s access to Commonwealth funded aged care services .
Example
Sarah is 54 years old and lives in residential aged care. She wants to move out, so she is exploring other housing options.
Sarah needs to be transferred out of her bed into her wheelchair. Her residential aged care facility provides her bed, and the hoist used to get her in and out of bed. The hoist is shared with other residents who may need it.
We might fund a wheelchair for Sarah if she needs it customised for her personal use. For example, she might need a wheelchair customised so she can move around the rest of the community independently. She can take her wheelchair with her when she moves out.
We use the NDIS funding criteria to determine if a support is reasonable and necessary. For Sarah, the wheelchair would help her pursue her goal of being more mobile. To understand its value for money, Sarah’s my NDIS contact may compare the cost of different wheelchairs. They may also think about the long term benefits Sarah would get out of the wheelchair – like becoming more independent.
It’s important to remember we wouldn’t fund customisation to equipment not related to Sarah’s disability.